windows xp repair install questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter rb
  • Start date Start date
R

rb

I've been working on our church office pc, and am going to need to do a
WinXP repair install. I haven't done a clean or repair Windows install, so
am trying to anticpate potential glitches with the repair. Some questions:

A. Will some of our peripheral programs survive the Windows repair (I
assume the repair simply overwrites all the Windows files/programs in the
OEM CD)? Maybe those that don't have any registry or shared file tie with
Windows may be OK.

B. Will our data files survive the repair install? I've already pulled off
onto CD My Documents, Favorites, Outlook Address Book, Sent and Inbox email,
etc, in case the ones on the hard drive are deleted or damaged.
 
Two sites which may assist:
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
====================================
TaurArian [MS-MVP] 2005-2007 - Australia
====================================
How to make a good post: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
Defending your machine: http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/
http://taurarian.mvps.org/index.htm

Emails will not be acknowledged - please post to the newsgroup so all may benefit.


| I've been working on our church office pc, and am going to need to do a
| WinXP repair install. I haven't done a clean or repair Windows install, so
| am trying to anticpate potential glitches with the repair. Some questions:
|
| A. Will some of our peripheral programs survive the Windows repair (I
| assume the repair simply overwrites all the Windows files/programs in the
| OEM CD)? Maybe those that don't have any registry or shared file tie with
| Windows may be OK.
|
| B. Will our data files survive the repair install? I've already pulled off
| onto CD My Documents, Favorites, Outlook Address Book, Sent and Inbox email,
| etc, in case the ones on the hard drive are deleted or damaged.
|
|
|
 
If one needs to perform a "repair" in xp,as in the OS is corrupted or
similiar,
youre wasting youre time with reapair.In the amount of time xp repairs
itself,
a new version could be installed.Also,all updates are lost,so why not work
with a fresh copy you know will run,otherwise if it doesnt get fixed,youre
going
to start a xp install over again...
 
A fresh install will also involve getting up the updates and it will involve
redoing your settings and installing third party apps. A typical fresh
install including updates and adding apps usually takes anywhere for 4 - 8
hours. A Repair Install takes 45 minutes and the updates can be installed
through autoupdate overnight.
 
Thanks for the info and thoughts. There are a lot of unintended
consequences of either a repair or fresh install that you simply don't know
the questions to ask. So, thought I would. And glad I did.
 
You are welcome. Usually a Repair Install goes fine unless the problems that
led to doing it are hardware related. A big problem with the seeming success
of a Repair Install has to do with trying to use it to repair problems
associated with spyware or viruses. If these are stay resident programs then
they will re-emerge after the repair has been done. This leads people to
thinking the Repair Install was not successful when in fact it might have
been successful. After all a Repair Install simply rewrites system files
backs while retaining settings, data and installed applications. Both
spyware and viruses are applications so a successful Repair Install should
leave them intact. Please keep in mind that a Repair Install is not the be
all and end all. It is one of the last steps I take before biting the bullet
and running a clean install.
 
Like Harry and the others have said, if all goes well, the biggest hassle is
re-installing all the Updates, and that's just a pita is all.

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| Thanks for the info and thoughts. There are a lot of unintended
| consequences of either a repair or fresh install that you simply don't
know
| the questions to ask. So, thought I would. And glad I did.
|
|
 
In my ignorance, how does one go about doing a repair install for Windows XP
service pack 2.Cheers

Harry Ohrn said:
You are welcome. Usually a Repair Install goes fine unless the problems that
led to doing it are hardware related. A big problem with the seeming success
of a Repair Install has to do with trying to use it to repair problems
associated with spyware or viruses. If these are stay resident programs then
they will re-emerge after the repair has been done. This leads people to
thinking the Repair Install was not successful when in fact it might have
been successful. After all a Repair Install simply rewrites system files
backs while retaining settings, data and installed applications. Both
spyware and viruses are applications so a successful Repair Install should
leave them intact. Please keep in mind that a Repair Install is not the be
all and end all. It is one of the last steps I take before biting the bullet
and running a clean install.

--


Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


rb said:
Thanks for the info and thoughts. There are a lot of unintended
consequences of either a repair or fresh install that you simply don't
know the questions to ask. So, thought I would. And glad I did.
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